May Planting

The first outdoor planting, May 2nd.

Later April Seedlings

The tomatoes growing up, April 22nd.

And after thinning...

"Seed" Potatoes

These are the potatoes we planted in containers on or front porch. We bought them in two packs, a dollar each pack, at Star Market. They were on the sale rack becasue they were starting to get eyes -- perfect. They were very successful and we've had lots of delcious potatoes. There are plenty more waiting to be eaten!

Seedling Photos from April II

These were our seedling trays from April 14th. From left to right, back to front:

Basil, Cilantro, Jalapenos, Poblanos, Tomatoes and Tomatillos
One stray Broccoli, Tomatoes and more Tomatoes.

The tomatoes were Cherries and Northern Hybrids. They grew into monstrous plants and then died back (due to blight? Not sure...). The tomatoes we are getting are giant -- the cherries are the size of golf balls. Pictures of those soon...

Seedling Photos from April I

This photo is from mid-April, showing our newly replanted broccoli seedlings. These guys grew into majestic broccoli plants -- that were mostly smothered by the tomatoes and monster tomatillo that we planted too close to them. Look for current pictures of the broccoli soon...

Fried Green Tomatoes

The long rainy and cold spell we had all through June (and a lot of
July) means we still have a lot of green tomatoes. We tried making
fried green tomatoes an they were awesome. We've cooked a bunch now...

First Carrot

The first carrot we pulled! Since this funny little guy, we have eaten
a bunch of the carrots. They're very sweet. A New England heirloom...

Beets From the Garden

(first effort at getting the blog rolling again!)

Here are our first two beets from the garden. The beets didn't do
well. Most never poked through the soil. But the ones that did are
growing okay. Although I have to admit these were not the tastiest
beets I've ever had...

More Seeds Planted

A lot has been planted since I last posted.

On March 18, I planted peppers, jalapeno and ancho. They still haven't germinated. I'm worried I've been lazy in keeping them properly watered, but their packages say it can take up to 21 days for them to germinate, so I guess I shouldn't be worried yet.

On Monday, I planted tomatoes and some herbs, specifically a short season big tomato variety, cherry tomatoes and tomatillos, and cilantro and basil. There was a little mishap midway through, involving a cat jumping from a desk into the middle of the just planted tomatoes and me chasing him around the house yelling. But in the end everything got planted...

The broccoli, lettuce and spinach are all doing well. Some of the broccoli and spinach didn't germinate the first time around, so I planted more when I planted the peppers.

Hopefully I will get some pictures up before the end of the week!

Seedlings!

The first seedlings came up yesterday, a few broccoli sprouts. By this morning, all of the lettuce had sprouted and there were a few more broccoli. The camera was out of batteries, so I will post pictures tonight.
Also, our friend Lauren gave us a sunflower seedling! He survived a ride home in a jar and has perked up nicely.

Seeds Planted!

Today I planted some broccoli, spinach and lettuce. Last weekend's snow was a little daunting, but with the warm weather today I was inspired.

I planted them with a plant-cell approach, except that my cells were egg shells. (Thanks, Mona!) I've been obsessively saving egg shells for months, so it's nice to put them to use finally. I poked little holes in the bottom of the shells for drainage.

Home Depot

Last weekend we went to Home Depot and it totally rocked. We got seedling mix and fertilizer and a hoe (among other things).

A giant bucket, plus a post on Grow Better Veggies, inspired us to plant all our potatoes in various containers instead of in the ground. That'll give us more room for broccoli, beets and carrots.

We also picked up a packet of cilantro seeds...

More of Last Year's Harvest -- Brussels Sprouts

Last year we planted the brussels sprouts too close together and didn't water them enough. Mostly we had mini-sprouts. One plant had decent sized sprouts... All in all, we had one cereal bowl of sprouts. They were tasty though...

Some of Last Year's Harvest

These are in reverse order from when they were harvested.

Last Year's Garden

Last year we planted a garden in June. It took up a little less than half of the space our new garden will. Here are some pictures from last year:

This is from the day we planted.













On the far right is corn. Planted around each stalk are scarlet runner beans and zucchini. The zucchini got shaded out, and never produced any fruit. Bummer.

On the top left is lots and lots of brussel sprouts. On the bottom left is broccoli. The broccoli turned out the best of everything.

This was the garden towards the end of the season. You can see how space was getting tight.


These are our cherry tomatoes from the front porch after we brought them inside because of the cold.

Planting Calendar

We're really excited for things to get warm enough to begin planting... I made a calendar. It's still approximate, of course:

Sat Feb 28			Buy soil, fertilizer and mulch
Sat Mar 7			Sow lettuce & broccoli indoors

Sat Mar 14			Start preparing garden! -- trellis along fence, strawberry patch
			Sow pepper plants indoors
Sat Mar 21			Plant strawberries (once they arrive)
			Sow snap peas in garden
Sat Mar 28			Sow tomatoes indoors
Sat Apr 4			Prepare more of garden -- all but pepper, tomatoes and corn plots
Sat Apr 11			Buy potatoes for planting - new, blue, sweet
Sat Apr 18			Plant potatoes in garden
Sat Apr 25			Sow cucumber seed indoors
			Sow more peas in garden
			Sow seed for beets, onions, carrots in garden
			(Sow a few lettuce plants every few weeks)
			Set out broccoli and lettuce transplants.
			Up-pot tomatoes & peppers
			Sow pumpkin and zucchini seed indoors
Tue May 5			Last Frost

Sat May 16			Sow seed in garden for scarlet runner beans.
			Sow more lettuce seeds.
			Set out tomatoes and cucumber plants.
Sat May 23			Sow corn in garden

Sat May 30			Harvest snap peas
Sat Jun 6			Set out peppers, pumpkin and summer squash
Sat Jun 13			Sow summer lettuce seed
Sat Jun 27			Sow a second crop of scarlet runner beans
			Harvest broccoli (continuous harvest)
			Harvest beets
Sat Jul 11			Harvest carrots
Sat Jul 18			Sow more summer lettuce
Sat Jul 25			Harvest beans (shell beans)
			Harvest early corn
Sat Aug 8			Harvest anchos
Sat Aug 29			Harvest late corn
Sat Sep 5			Harvest beans (dry beans)

Vegetable List

Here's a list of what we'll be planting. Some of these we had from last year, but most we ordered. (We also have a variety of flowers that we'll plant in pots for the deck.) The list is in approximate order of when we'll be planting them, either indoors or out:

Lettuce, Black Seeded-Simpson
Broccoli, George's Favorite Blend (a mix of early, mid and late maturing)
Spinach, Giant Nobel
Pepper, Ancho
Pepper, Organic Early Jalapeno
Pepper, Sweet (currently in a pot in our office)
Pea, Sugar Snap
Tomato, Northern Exposure Hybrid
Tomato, Large Red Cherry
Tomatillo
Potato, Sweet
Potato, Blue
Potato, Yukon Gold
Strawberries (from plants)
Squash, Sure Thing Hybrid (Zucchini)
Pumpkin, Connecticut Field
Cucumber, Straight Eight
Carrot, Danvers Half Long
Beet, Detroit Dark Red Medium Top
Onion, White Lisbon Bunching (Scallion)
Bean, Scarlet Runner
Corn, Stowell's Evergreen
Corn, Early Choice

We'll also be planting Cilantro, Basil, Spearmint, Kentucky Mint and Rosemary.

Garden Planning

Tina and I have been busily planning our garden since January.

Our first step was planning the layout, so that we could order seeds. Our first plan, based on our estimate of the garden's size, was about twice as big as it should have been. Here is our revised garden plan:

The garden is to scale (although the deck is not -- the garden is about half the width of the house). The plot that is marked "Beets" is a little decieving. The circles mark where we'll plant corn, with scarlet runner pole beans around the corn. The beets will be planted there before the corn goes in, and after between the rows. We'll be growing snap peas in just about a month along the fence where the cucumbers and squash will eventually go once it gets warm enough.